The other weekend, I stopped by the local mall for the first time in well over a year, and I noticed a few surprising changes. For one, it was past lunch hour, yet the food court was still packed - and not everyone was eating. Many were simply using the space as a place to hang out.

Another thing that surprised me was that the mall still had a Barnes & Noble, although it had very little foot traffic, especially for a weekend. Inside, half the store appeared to be your typical Barnes & Noble that I remembered - books and magazines; but the other half of the store was dedicated to toys, games, and gifts.

I realized that what’s happening at the mall as well as Barnes & Noble mirrors what’s happening with many campus bookstores at colleges and universities. Call me Captain Obvious, but it’s pretty apparent that both the mall and campus bookstore need to evolve in order to survive - becoming more of a multi-purpose destination to not just shop, but to meet, eat, and socialize.

Amy is the newest Director of Business Development at Akademos, responsible for building new partnerships in the Western US. She has worked in Higher Ed for over 20 years, specializing in Retention, Data Analytics, Financial Aid and Enrollment. Amy is passionate about bringing new ideas to the industry to foster a successful student lifecycle.

The student of today looks much different than 10, or even 5, years ago, which is why it can be extremely difficult to diagnose what may be at the heart of declining enrollments and higher attrition rates. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 30 percent of students who entered college in the fall of 2014 did not return for year 2.1 The 6-year graduation rate in the U.S. is reported at 59%2, however, some believe this to be even lower due to the method upon which colleges are reporting these rates, and if transfers are included as part of the calculation. For many schools, the cost to retain a student is more cost-effective than recruiting a new one, and this shift will continue as we see a trend in educational sectors closing schools, merging or moving to predominantly online models.

The findings of the 2019 Survey of College & University Academic Leadership provide unique data & analysis on the many obstacles colleges and universities face when reducing the high costs of textbook and course materials for their students. This survey highlights academic leadership's perspective and trends on today's hot-button issues including:

Textbook affordability

Student purchasing behavior

The impact of high textbook and course material costs on student success

What’s more effortless than purchasing your textbooks through Akademos? Purchasing them with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Students can now use the cash that is already available in their digital wallet, a bank account, student ID card, or credit card with a simple touch.

Keeping your on-campus college bookstore prices down and sales revenue up is becoming more difficult with each passing year. As the traditional market for textbooks has shifted, many on-campus college stores have experienced a significant loss in sales and in some cases have stopped selling textbooks altogether. Akademos has a unique vantage point in the market. Over the last 3 years, we reviewed the textbook sales data from a range of on-campus bookstores nationwide and found a median decrease of 19%. These trends are consistent over a wide variety of institution types (e.g. community colleges, liberal arts institutions, faith based institutions, etc.).

Recently, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette made headlines for a $1,000 eBook. The access code for an introductory accounting course was purposefully priced at almost 4x the cost of the printed textbook. Criticism of the university and publisher spread quickly over social media, accusing them of price manipulation and scamming students into more debt. UL-Lafayette’s response did not do much to assuage anger, causing much disbelief that the institution acted on “good intentions.” Even further providing fuel for the fire when the price of the digital version was changed to match the print version and not significantly lower like most digital texts.